Safety wrench for tubes and pipes



July 7, 1953 c. osBoRN SAFETY WRENCH FOR TUBES AND PIPEs Filed Jan. 5, 1950 A FIGA.

INVENTOR.

i MME Patented July 7, 1953 TENT ctrl-cla:

j SAFETY WRENCH FOR' TUBES AN D VPIPES Leonard C; Osborn, Salt Lake City,y Utah Application January 3, 1950,`Serial N0.' 136,452

d (o1. s1-9s) 6 Claims My invention -frelatesl to wrenches, and more VKparticularly to pipeA wrenches,l and hasfor its o'b'ject to provide a newV and vhighly eicient'automai-,ically self-adjusting, all purpose wrench "adapted for use as a pipe wrench or as a wrench ftoturn nuts,- bolts or other articles which it is lidesired to turn, such as line shafts and the like.

A furtherobject AofL my invention is the provision Vofagwrenchf ofthe character indicated in #whicha minimum-gap limiting device is employed -toallow -the wrench to be used on thin tubing vyet preventing it from crushing this tubing by "vice may or may not belused as the need requires,

[thus providingI a` wrench lof many purposes and --utilities These'objects I accomplishlwith the vwrench 'shownv in'A the drawings in which Figure l is a sidefelevationof a preferred embodiment of the Figure 2 is an edge view thereof; Figure 3 is al section on line 3-3 of Figure l; "'Figureil is a detail sectional view of the Wrench taken-on the linef-t in Figure 1; and

V2 l 5f'- and' a pivot pin -or-'sorew- I 'I-` isA -passed through the head '-andthe- `two -1egs to'y pivot the ljaw to thelhead. This screw I'I passes through-both'legs yand lthe -head toj engage they jaw to` thefheadl'in operativer-relationship thereto. The flat -jaw portion- I 3 of-- the ljavi/is formed with .teethfornotches i -i'8- adapted to Yengage theV perimeter of theepipe or 'nut` and Ithe teeth-slant inra :direc-tionl opposed `l to theteethdn'thehead 51,the slope of the notches being in sucha-man'ner thatthey fwillllautoma'ticallyegrip-fupon 4asur-face when the handlel is movedf -in a VVcoun-ter-clockwise directionl and 'will slideover the-surface whenl the handle'direction is reversed. This direction of rotation of the lhandle is described when Alooking l at' the-.wrench l as shownin Figure 1 and-would be the reverse when viewed.J from the opposite side.

The head and the jaw are preferably made :of laminatedfmetal yfor greater strength. The 'flat -Y surface of theljawmay 'be v`formed with yteeth-or #notas desired.

The ends yof the-legsI-and II which-engage over-the sides of thewren'ch headare provided with notches uE` 4,and the raised sides 8 and 9 of the handle head adjacent the-legs are -prov Yvidedtvi-th cover plates I5rand-with-grooves.

f Figure isaidetailsectional view of the vwrench taken parallel to Figure 4 butwith the minimum- -gap limitingdevice locked in retracted position.

I In theldrawings Figure 1 shows `thewrenchwith lthehandle A as'rnadeof asingle: casting'iwith fthe end forming the head 5. substantiallycircuiar in form :when viewed rfrom Theihead 5 ismade 'the nat: side with an arc cut fwhere the; handle 1` is joined to the head.

'Thecircular vface of the head '5;is formed with '.fteeth 'I rand con.; each side of' the `head there iare raised sections f3 f and 9,1'w'nich may bei formed integral Awith handle Ayas shownjxin sFigfZ; or

separate therefrom','as. shown'inv Figs. 3A to5, the

' lw,henviewedwfrom theside, andthe central por- "tion of` the jaw is cut away as an arcy shown in dotted lines inA Figure 1 to permit pivotal move- "mient ofthev jaw on the head. The legs IU and I I iare formed; `with* sufficient distance therebetween to encompass the centralpivotportionof thehead :which slidably mount dogs I 6 operable .by a movl able -rod'2- for withdrawal yofthe dogs fromthe vrno'tchesrwhen."desiied. 'Each dog is, spring held in contactwith the notches bylspringslZ |.whichfare carried back of thedogs .in the groovesil2llwhi'ch are cut in the side sections; Sandie. A-slot 22 is `cut, through .the handle; Ato vpermit forpas- :sageloi the rod..2 ,whenmovementis needed,zor

y ywhenadjustmentlof `thedog is desired. vThe :notches Iii areeachl formed by twoi wal1s,one Awall :being :radially directed and the other .wall 'makinganacute angle therewith when measured Vclockwise .'(as viewed in Figure 1) andeachpdog I6 is :formedwith two converging surfacesgcom- '.plementary to said walls, softhatthezangular Wall .willdepress and rideover the .dog I6, `when either the outerfjaw .I2 orv` the handle is'finovedsoxasfto l increasezthe gap .between .the jaws, zand so* .that

The pivot I'I of the Wrench is set at a predetermined point in relationship to the angled relationship of the handle to the head and this is done for example by setting the pivot down one half inch from the arc of the head 5 on a center line which is drawn through the exact diameter of the head 5 and offset one half inch to one side on a line at right angles to the center line. This center line is shown as the dotted line a and the offset pivot is shown on the line o at right angles to the line a. When this is done the angle of the handle A is substantially 30 from the center line as shown by the dotted line c.

As many possible embodiments of my invention may be made and as many changes may be made in the embodiment hereinbefore set forth, it V'will be distinctly understood that all matter described herein is to be interpreted as illustrative and not as a limitation.

Having thus described my invention I claim:

1. A minimum-gap limiting wrench comprising in combination, a handle having a head at one end thereof, a movable jaw overlapping said handle and pivoted to the same at said head end for relative pivotal movement and having a work-engaging surface confronting a work-engaging face of said head so as to grip an object therebetween upon operation of said handle, and a series of stops and co-acting manually retractable latch means on said handle and movable jaw to restrict closing movement of said jaw to a minimum-gap as determined by setting said latch means in advance of one of said series of ble jaw, said teeth having faces so inclined as to block relative closing movement of said jaw and the head end of said handle when any of said teeth abut said latch means, and having opposite faces so inclined as to ratchet freely past said latch means during relative opening movement of said jaw and head.

3. A minimum-gap limiting wrench comprising in combination, a handle having an outwardly curved head at one end thereof, a movable jaw overlapping said handle and pivoted to the same at said curved head end for relative pivotal movement and having a work-engaging surface confronting the curved face of said outwardly curved head for plying to and from the same by operation `of said handle, a series of teeth and V.co-acting longitudinally movable dog means pro- .vided individually on said handle and movable jaw, said teeth having faces so inclined as to block closing movement of said jaw when any of said teeth abutsaid dog means, and having opposite faces so inclined as to ratchet freely past said dog means during movement of said jaw in an opening direction, and spring means resiliently urging said dog means to engagement with said teeth.

4. A minimum-gap limiting wrench comprising in combination, a handle having an outwardly curved head at one end thereof, a movable jaw having legs straddling said handle and pivoted to the same at said curved head end and having a substantially fiat work-engaging face confronting said outwardly curved head for plying to and from the same by operation of said handle, dogs mounted for longitudinal sliding movement on opposite sides of said handle, and manually operable means extending through an opening in said handle and interconnecting said dogs for movement in unison, a series of stops on each of the legs of said movable jaw for selective engagement by said dogs to restrict the ply movement of said jaw to a minimum-gap, as determined by setting said dogs in advance of a selected stop in each of said series of stops, and spring means urging said dogs to any selected position in said series of stops, said spring means being yieldable upon operation of said manually operable means, so that said dogs may be moved clear of said series of stops.

5. A minimum-gap limiting wrench comprising in combination, a handle having an outwardly curved head at one end thereof, a movable jaw having legs straddling said handle and pivoted to the same at said curved head end and having a substantially flat work-engaging face confronting the curved face of said outwardly curved head for plying to and from the same by operation of said handle, dogs mounted for longitudinal sliding movement on opposite sides of said handle and means extending through an opening in said handle and interconnecting said dogs for movement in unison, a series of teeth on each of the legs of said movable jaw for selective engagement by said dogs, said teeth having faces so inclined as to block closing movement of said jaw when any of said teeth abut said dogs, and having opposite faces so inclined as to ratchet freely past said dogs during opening movement of said jaw, and spring means resiliently urging said dogs to engagement with said teeth.

6. A minimum-gap limiting wrench comprising in combination, a handle having a head at one end thereof, a movable jaw overlapping said handle and pivoted to the same at said head end for relative pivotal movement and having a work-engaging surface confronting a work-engaging face of said head so as to grip an object therebetween upon operation of said handle, a series of stops and co-acting manually retractable latch means on said handle and movable jaw to restrict closing movement of said jaw to a minimum-gap, as determined by setting said latch means in advance of a selected stop in said series of stops, spring means resiliently urging said latch means to any selected position in said series of stops, said spring means being yieldable, upon manual retraction of said latch means, so

that said latch means may be moved clear of said series of stops, and means for locking said ylatch means in that retracted position in which it clears said series of stops.

LEONARD C. OSBORN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 189,567 Mathews Apr. 17, 1877 506,070 Plante Oct. 3, 1893 728,945 Levy May 26, 1903 891,683 Flowers June 23, 1908 1,138,728 Cavanna May.'11, 1915 1,421,206 Galbraith June 27, 1922 

